Australia police probe alleged Indian cyber attacks

SYDNEY: Australian police said they were investigating a string of hacking attacks against Melbourne-based companies, reportedly linked to recent violence against Indian nationals.

The cyber raids, which have occurred in the past week, are being probed by a specialist taskforce, a spokeswoman said, refusing to confirm media reports that they were linked to the Indian assaults.

"The Victoria Police e-crimes squad is investigating reports of alleged hacking of a number of different business servers hosted in Melbourne," the spokeswoman said.

"The ongoing investigation is in its infancy and it would be inappropriate to comment any further."

The Australian newspaper reported that several Melbourne construction and engineering firms had been attacked in recent days by a hacker called "Ghost Buster".

"Stop racial attacks against Indian people," the message said, vowing that until the assaults end, Australian servers will be hacked "every day".

Attacks against Indians, including beatings and robberies, have been on the rise in Australia, threatening to damage diplomatic ties and the country's 15.4-billion-US-dollar education export industry
"Your server data have been compromised ... and have been encrypted," Ghost Buster wrote on one